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Centennial  Sermons 


LEXII^GTO:^' 


CEI^TE\t(!AL  SERMONS 


DELIVERED    IN    THE 


FIRST   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH, 


LEXINGTON,  MASS., 


April  11th,  18th,  and  25th,  1875, 


BY  THE  PASTOE, 


Rev.    HENRY     Vs^-ESTCOTT. 


BOSTON : 

Printed  by  Frank  Wood,  352  Washington  St. 
1875. 


W  .  Vvo  ,Vw  , 


25738 


^ 


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!X 


V 


\j> 


A    SERMON 

DELIVERED     APRIL     11,    1875 


As  the  day  which  marks  the  close  of  a  century  since 
the  beginning  of  the  American  Revolution  approaches, 
no  small  amount  of  interest  centres  in  the  village  of 
Lexington,  which  witnessed  the  opening  scene  of  that 
war.  Years  ago,  when,  as  school  children,  in  some 
other  town  or  State,  many  of  us  read  the  account  of 
•  the  "Battle  of  Lexington,"  it  was  with  the  resolution 
that,  at  some  future  day,  our  feet  should  stand  upon  the 
ground  made  sacred  by  the  first  blood  shed  in  defence 
of  American  liberty.  And  now,  when  the  day  that 
many  will  choose  on  which  to  keep  such  resolutions  is 
so  near,  let  us  glance  hastily  at  the  Old  Lexington  of 
pre-revolutionary  times,  and  consider  some  of  the 
causes  which  have  made  the  name  of  our  village 
familiar  to  every  citizen  of  this  country. 

The  feeling  of  interest  which  turns  the  thoughts  of 
so  many  persons  hither  at  the  present  time  is  not  on 
account  of  any  great  battle,  or  of  any  superiority  of 
the  men  who  stood  upon  Lexington  Green,  waiting  the 
approach  of  British  soldiers.  The  "battle"  was  only 
a  skirmish;  and,  had  Gen.  Gage  sent  his  troops  in  any 
other  direction,  they  would  have  found  as  brave  men 
in  every  town  as  they  found  here.  But  Lexington 
Green  happened  to  be  the  place  where  the  British  troops 


first  met  Americans  in  arms,  drawn  up  for  the  express 
purpose  of  forcibly  resisting,  if  possible,  their  move- 
ment of  hostility.  American  blood  had  been  shed  as 
early  as  1770,  in  Boston;  and  British  blood  had  been 
shed  in  1772,  at  the  burning  of  the  schooner  Gaspee, 
in  Narragansett  Bay  ;  and  in  other  places  blood  had 
been  shed  previous  to  April  19,  1775.  But  in  all  these 
cases,  the  shedding  of  blood  was  occasioned  by  acts  of 
annoyance  on  the  part  of  the  British,  rather  than  by 
any  act  -of  direct  hostility.  Here,  however,  the 
British  troops  were  on  their  wa}'  to  strike  a  blow  at 
the  pr(3paration  which  this  colony  was  making  for  the 
conflict  that  was  thought  to  be  unavoidable.  And  the 
company  on  Lexington  Green  was,  as  Frothingham,  in 
his  "  Siege  of  Boston,"  says,  ""a  part  of  'the  constitu- 
tional army,'  which  was  authorized  to  make  a  regular 
and  forcible  resistance  to  any  open  hostility  by  the 
British  troops ;  and  it  was  for  this  purpose  that  this 
gallant  and  devoted  band  on  this  memorable  morning 
appeared  on  the  field.  Whether  it  ought  to  maintain 
its  ground,  or  whether  it  ought  to  retreat,  would  depend 
upon  the  bearing  and  numbers  of  the  regulars."  Here 
the  troops  sent  over  to  deprive  these  colonics  of  their 
liberties  first  came  in  conflict  with  a  part  of  that  army 
which  had  been  raised  to  sustain  those  liberties.  On 
account  of  the  disproportion  in  numbers,  the  further 
march  of  the  British  was  not  prevented  ;  but  enough 
was  done  to  awaken  the  spirit  of  resistance  in  the 
neighboring  towns,  and,  indeed,  in  all  the  colonies. 
This  is  what  gives,  to-day,  an  interest  in  the  name  of 
Lexington. 

The  territory  now  included  in  the  town  of  Lexington, 


previous  to  the  year  lU-S,  formed  a  part  of  Cambridge, 
and  was  generally  known  as  "  Cambridge  Farms.''  As 
it  lay  at  some  distance  from  tlio  settlement  of  Cam- 
bridge, the  land  was  taken  up  and  built  upon  very 
slowly.  For  a  long  time,  there  was  no  central  place  of 
settlement.  Here  and  there,  as  some  adventurer  found 
a  tract  of  land  to  his  liking,  a  house  was  built,  and  a 
home  begun.  In  1682,  when  the  number  of  families 
had  reached  about  thirty,  the  inconvenience  of  going 
from  jfive  to  ten  miles  to  the  place  of  worship  was  felt 
to  be  so  great  that  the  people  of  this  district  petitioned 
the  General  Court  to  be  set  off'  as  a  distinct  parish.  On 
account  of  the  opposition  of  the  people  of  Cambridge, 
this  was  not  effected  until  the  year  1691,  when  the 
place  was  called  North  Cambridge.  Immediately,  the 
inhabitants  made  arrangements  for  building  a  meeting- 
house and  securing  a  preacher.  The  meeting-house 
was  built  in  1692,  and,  for  a  time.  Rev,  Benjamin  Esta- 
brook  was  engaged  from  year  to  year  to  preach.  In 
1696,  after  providing  him  with  a  house,  and  arranging 
for  a  salary  of  forty-five  pounds,  they  ventured  to  give 
him  a  call,  which  he  accepted,  being  ordained  in  October 
of  that  year.  Mr.  Estabrook  graduated  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  the  year  1690,  and  was  a  young  man  of  much 
promise,  but  he  lived  less  than  a  year  after  his  ordina- 
tion. 

The  next  minister  was  Rev.  John  Hancock,  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  College,  who  was  settled  in  1698.  He  was 
the  grandfiither  of  John  Hancock,  of  Revolutionary 
fame  ;  and  he  remained  pastor  of  the  church  for  fifty- 
five  years. 

Rev.  Ebenezer  Hancock,  son  of  Rev.  John  Hancock, 


was  settled  as  colleague  with  his  father  in  1*134,  and 
died  in  1740. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  part  of  Cambridge  in  the  early- 
part  of  tiie  eighteenth  century  had  increased  to  such  an 
extent,  that  they  petitioned  the  General  Court  to  be  in- 
corporated as  a  town,  which  petition  was  granted  in 
the  year  1713,  the  town  taking  the  name  of  Lexington. 
As  more  than  a  score  of  cities,  counties  and  towns  in 
the  United  States  have  since  received  this  name,  it  is  a 
matter  of  interest  to  know  where  the  name  came  from. 
The  name,  undoubtedly,  came  from  Lord  Lexington,  of 
England,  who  was  a  noted  man  at  the  time  of  the  incor- 
poration of  the  town  ;  and  was  also  a  relation  of  Joseph 
Dudley,  who  was  then  Governor  of  the  Province. 

During  the  first  half  century  which  succeeded  the 
incorporation  of  Lexington,  the  energies  of  the  people 
were  mainly  devoted  to  the  improvement  of  the  town. 
Schoolhouses  were  built,  schools  were  established,  the 
support  of  the  ministry  was  provided  for,  roads  were 
opened,  and  many  other  things  were  attended  to,  which 
were  required  by  a  well-regulated  and  prosperous  com- 
munity. Some  of  the  duties  to  which  they  attended 
seem  strange  to  us,  although  they  were  regarded  as  im- 
portant at  that  time.  They  appointed  a  committee  to 
seat  the  families  in  the  meeting-house  according  to  age, 
dignity  and  wealth, — a  duty  which  must  have  been  very 
difficult  to  perform  satisfactorily  to  all  concerned.  Tliey 
appointed  tythingmon  to  look  after  the  children  during 
and  between  the  religious  services  on  Sunday, —  a  task 
which  could  not  have  been  a  verj'  easy  one.  Persons 
liable  to  become  a  public  cliarge  they  warned  out  of 
town.     In  1739,  the  town  voted  that  representatives  to 


the  Great  and  General  Court  should  serve  for  six  shil- 
lings a  day  ;  and  in  1151 ,  it  was  voted  that  all  money 
received  by  the  representatives  over  three  shillings  a 
day,  should  be  paid  into  the  town  treasury. 

Kev.  Mr.  Hancock  died  in  the  3'ear  1752,  and  his 
funeral  was  something  of  public  interest,  so  that  the 
town  made  an  appropriation  to  meet  the  expenses,  and 
appointed  a  committee  to  take  charge  of  the  services. 
In  1761,  the  bell  which  gave  the  alarm  on  the  morning 
of  Api'il  19,  1775,  was  presented  to  the  town  by  Isaac 
Stone. 

Although  the  citizens  were  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  town,  they  were  not  backward  in  the  support  of 
the  wars  with  the  French  and  Indians.  Whether  the 
war  was  in  the  West  Indies,  or  before  Quebec  or 
Louisburg,  there  were  found  representatives  from  this 
town.  It  was  in  such  service  as  this,  that  the  men  of 
Lexington,  and  those  of  many  other  towns,  learned  the 
art  of  war,  which  they  practised  at  a  later  period.  It 
was  by  fighting  by  the  side  of  British  troops  that  they 
gained  the  courage  to  fight  when  opposed  to  them. 

In  1755,  Rev.  Jonas  Clark  was  ordained  as  the  min- 
ister of  the  Lexington  Church.  Mr.  Clark  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  College,  and  he  married  a  grand- 
daughter of  his  predecessor.  Rev.  John  Hancock.  In 
the  controversy  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Ameri- 
can Colonies,  which  soon  came  to  be  the  most  important 
subject  of  thought,  Mr.  Clark  took  the  greatest  interest. 
As  the  controversy  increased,  Mr.  Clark  took  a  very 
active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  town  relating  to 
that  question.  Most  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
citizens  of  the  town  expressing  their  views  on  the  sub- 


joct  of  the  controversy  were  prepared  by  him.  Edward 
Everett  said  of  those  documents,  "They  have  few  equals, 
and  no  superiors,  among-  the  productions  of  that  class." 
Weiss,  in  his  life  of  Theodore  Parker,  says  of  Mr.  Clark: 
"  He  was  more  dangerous  than  all  the  militar}^  stores 
at  Concord  or  in  the  Colony,  and  had  so  infected  the 
whole  district  with  his  calm  and  deep  indig-nation.  x'aat, 
when  the  regulars  came  marching  up  the  old  turnpike 
in  the  gray  dawn  of  the  19th  of  April,  after  powder  and 
flour,  they  found  all  the  farmers  converted  to  a  doctrine 
of  liberty  which  armed  and  provisioned  a  young  nation 
for  seven  years  of  war." 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  causes  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  but  only  to  state  the  more  immediate 
measures  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies 
which  led  to  the  conflict.  In  1*1*14,  the  British  Parlia- 
ment enacted  laws  by  which  certain  officers,  hitherto 
chosen  by  the  people,  or  representatives  of  the  people, 
in  Massachusetts,  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  king  and 
by  the  governor ;  and  also  forbidding  all  town  meet- 
ings, except  tlie  annual  ones,  and  all  other  public  meet- 
ings, to  be  held,  unless  with  the  consent  of  the  gover- 
nor. This  was  virtually  reducing  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Colony  to  the  condition  of  slaves.  And  it  was  the 
attempt  to  enforce  such  laws,  that  led,  by  a  direct  path, 
to  an  open  conflict  between  the  troops  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  Colonists.  A  meeting  of  delegates  from  the 
Committees  of  Correspondence  was  held  in  Boston, 
August  26  and  21,  1714.  These  delegates  declared 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony  "were  entitled  to 
life,  liberty,  and  the  means  of  sustenance,  by  the  grace 
of  Heaven  and  without  the  king's  leave  ;"  and  resolved 


that  the  officers  who  had  been  chosen  according  to  the 
late  act  of  Parliament  ought  to  be  resisted,  that  the 
military  art  ought  attentively  to  be  practised  b}'^  the 
people,  and  that  a  "  Provincial  Congress  is  necessary 
for  concerting  and  executing  an  eflectual  plan  for  coun- 
teracting the  systems  of  despotism,  and  that  each 
county  will  act  wisely  by  choosing  members  as  soon 
as  may  be  for  said  congress,  and  by  resolutely  execut- 
ing its  measures  when  recommended."  This  was  the 
first  suggestion  of  a  Provincial  Congress ;  and  the  coun- 
ties immediately  began  to  act  upon  it  by  holding  conven- 
tions, which  advised  the  towns  to  choose  delegates  to 
such  a  body,  and  also  passed  determined  and  spirited 
resolutions. 

September  1st,  ITH,  Gen.  Gage  summoned  the 
General  Court  to  meet  at  Salem  on  October  5th.  On 
the  28th  of  September,  he  issued  a  proclamation  ex- 
cusing and  discharging  all  who  had  been  chosen  repre- 
sentatives, and  declaring  his  intention  not  to  meet  them. 
The  reasons  for  this  act  were,  "the  many  tumults  and 
disorders  which  had  taken  place,  the  extraordinary 
resolves  which  had  been  passed  in  many  of  the  coun- 
ties, the  instructions  given  by  the  town  of  Boston,  and 
some  other  towns,  to  their  representatives,  and  the  dis- 
ordered and  unhappy  state  of  the  province."  As  a 
specimen  of  the  spirit  of  those  resolves  which  had  in- 
timidated the  Governor,  the  Middlesex  County  Con- 
vention said  :  "If,  in  support  of  our  rights,  we  are 
called  upon  to  encounter  death,  we  are  yet  undaunted, 
sensible  that  he  can  never  die  too  soon,  who  lays  down 
his  life  in  support  of  the  laws  and  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try."    As  a  specimen  of  the  instructions  given  by  the 


10 

towns  to  their  repvesentatives,  Lexington  instructed 
her  representative,  Jonas  Stone,  to  "  use  liis  utmost  in- 
fluence that  nothing-  be  transacted  as  a  court  under  the 
new  council,  or  in  conformity  to  any  of  the  late  acts  of 
Parliament." 

Notwithstanding  the  proclamation  of  Gen.  Gage, 
nearly  a  hundred  of  the  representatives  met  at  Salem, 
October  5,  and  waited  two  days  for  the  appearance  of  the 
Governor,  who  did  not  come.  They  therefore  resolved 
themselves  into  a  Provincial  Congress,  to  be  joined  by 
such  others  as  had  been  or  should  be  chosen.  The 
object  of  that  Congress,  as  stated  at  the  time,  was  :  to 
"  take  into  consideration  the  dangerous  and  alarming 
situation  of  public  affairs  in  this  province,  and  to  con- 
sult and  determine  on  such  measures  as  they  shall  judge 
will  tend  to  promote  the  true  interest  of  his  majesty, 
and  the  peace,  welfare,  and  prosperity  of  the  province." 

The  organization  of  this  Provincial  Congress  was 
certainly  the  boldest  step  which  had  yet  been  taken. 
By  such  an  organization,  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony 
were  resisting  British  authority,  and  were  falling 
back  upon  the  natural  rights  of  man,  just  as  truly  as 
they  were  when  they  took  up  arms  to  resist  British 
troops.  The  men  who  dared  to  sit  in  that  Congress 
showed  themselves  as  true  heroes  as  did  the  men  who 
shcjuldered  their  muskets  and  hastened  to  Lexington 
and  Concord  on  tlie  morning  of  the  nineteenth  of  the 
following  April.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that 
Joseph  Warren  wrote  to  a  friend  about  the  members  of 
that  body  :  "  You  would  have  thought  j^ourself  in  an 
assembly  of  Spartans,  or  ancient  Romans,  had  you  been 


11 

a  witness  to  the  ardor  which  inspired  those  who  spoke 
xipon  the  important  business  they  were  transacting." 

The  proceedings  of  this  Congress  are  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  every  one  who  would  understand  the 
cause  of  the  open  acts  of  hostility  which  took  place  in 
the  following  spring.  It  was  the  work  of  this  Congress 
and  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  which  it  appointed,  that 
provoked  Gen.  Gage  to  send  his  troops  on  the  expedi- 
tion to  Lexington  and  Concord  ;  and  it  was  the  work 
of  this  Congress  and  Committee  that  the  inhabitants  of 
this  part  of  the  province  were  prepared  to  meet  those 
troops. 

The  Provincial  Congress,  aftc  organizing  at  Salem, 
Oct.  *7,  adjourned  to  meet  at  Concord,  Oct.  11.  The 
Congress  met  at  Concord,  according  to  adjournment, 
and  held  there  a  session  of  four  days.  It  adjourned 
Friday,  Oct.  14,  to  meet  at  Cambridge  on  the  following 
Monday,  at  which  place  all  the  remaining  sessions  of 
this  first  Provincial  Congress  were  held.  The  second 
Provincial  Congress  also  held  its  first  session  in  Cam- 
bridge ;  but  on  March  22,  1115,  it  met  at  Concord, 
where  it  continued  in  session  till  April  15.  At  the 
four  days'  session  of  the  first  Provincial  Congress  held 
at  Concord,  two  important  measures  were  adopted:  an 
address  to  Governor  Gage,  which  contained  an  account 
of  the  distresses,  oppressions,  and  grievances  to  which 
the  people  were  subjected,  and  a  request  that  the  Gov- 
ernor would  desist  from  any  further  warlike  prepara- 
tions. The  other  important  measure  was  the  advising 
of  the  constables,  collectors,  and  sheriffs  not  to  pay 
any  moneys  in  their  hands  to  the  treasurer  of  the  prov- 


12 

ince,  but  to  retain  the  same  until  farther  advice  from  the 
Provincial  Cong-ress. 

Among  the  important  measures  adopted  by  the  first 
and  second  Cong-ress  while  in  session  at  Cambridge 
were  the  following :  to  purchase  20  field  pieces,  4  mor- 
tars, 20  tons  grape  and  round  shot,  10  tons  bomb  shells, 
5  tons  lead  balls,  1000  barrels  of  powder,  5000  arms 
and  bayonets,  and  75,000  flints;  the  appointment  of  a 
Committee  of  Safety,  whose  duties  were  to  observe 
every  attempt  to  invade  or  annoy  the  province,  and,  if 
necessary,  to  call  out  the  militia;  the  people  were  urged 
to  complete  the  organization  of  the  military  companies, 
to  have  them  perfected  in  military  discipline,  and  a  part 
of  them  ready  to  march  at  the  shortest  notice. 

"We  think,"  said  the  Provincial  Congress,  "that 
particular  care  should  be  taken  by  the  towns  and  dis- 
tricts in  this  colony,  that  each  of  the  minute-men,  not 
already  provided  therewith,  should  be  immediately 
equipped  with  an  eflFective  fire-arm,  bayonet,  pouch, 
knapsack,  thirty  rounds  of  cartridges  and  balls,  and  that 
they  be  disciplined  three  times  a  week,  and  oftener  as 
opportunity  may  offer."  Besides  this,  the  ministers  of 
the  colony  were  asked  by  Congress  to  advise  their  con- 
gregations to  adhere  strictly  to  the  resolutions  of  the 
Continental  (Congress.  The  church  at  Cambridge  in 
which  the  Provincial  Congress  held  its  sessions  when 
these  and  many  other  important  measures  which  led  to 
the  beginning  of  open  hostilities  were  adopted,  no 
longer  stands.  Were  it  standing,  there  would  be  no 
other  buikling  in  this  country  to  which  pilgrimages 
would  more  readily  be  made  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States. 


13 

When  we  remember  that  the  measures  and  resolutions 
which  were  adopted  by  the  Provincial  Congress,  were  sup. 
plemented  by  the  earnest  action  of  the  Committees  of  Safe- 
ty and  Supplies  in  procuring  field-pieces,  muskets,  balls, 
cartridges,  powder,  bayonets,  tents,  provisions,  and  med- 
icines—  every  thing  that  an  army  in  actual  service  could 
possibly  require  —  and  concealing  them  at  Concord  and 
Worcester,  we  can  understand  something  of  the -feelings 
with  which  our  forefathers  passed  tlirough  those  months 
during  which  the  Provincial  Congress  was  in  session. 
Everywhere  in  the  province  was  seen  a  preparation  for 
war.     But  probably  nowhere  was  there  more  interest 
taken  in  that  preparation  than  in  the  towns  which  were 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Cambridge,  where  the  Provin- 
cial Congress  was  in  session,  and  Boston,  where  the  Brit- 
ish troops  were  quartered.     In  the  records  of  every  town 
are  found  the  evidences  of  this  interest.    If  we  look  in  the 
records  of  this  town,  we  find  the  citizens  during  those 
months  holding  frequent  town  meetings,  and  voting  to 
provide  flints,  and  bayonets,  and  drums,  and  all  other 
things   necessary   for   a   forcible  resistance    of  British 
troops.       As  a  year  previous  to  this  time,  they  had  re- 
solved that  "  we  trust  in  God,  that  should  the  state  of 
our    affairs  require  it,  we    shall  be  ready  to    sacrifice 
our  estates  and  everything  dear   in  life,    yea,  and  life 
itself,  in  support  of  the  common  cause,"  so  at  the  time 
we  are  considering,  they  were  making  active  prepara- 
tions to  fulfil  their  promise  to  sustain  the  common  cause, 
which  they  then  saw  clearly  must  be  done,  with  the 
sacrifice    of  their  lives.     We    are   so    accustomed    to 
dwell  upon  the  events  of  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1115, 
that  we  fail  to  realize  the   anxiety  in   which   the  few 


14 

months  previous  to  that  time  were  passed  by  the  in- 
habitants of  this  town.  With  what  eagerness  must 
they  have  looked  for  each  measure  adopted  by  the 
Provincial  Congress,  and  with  what  anxiety  must  they 
have  heard  of  every  movement  of  the  troops  at  Boston. 
As  the  winter  wore  away  with  the  increasing  certainty 
of  the  approaching  conflict,  and  as  the  spring  opened 
with  the  Provincial  Congress  meeting  in  March,  at 
Concord,  to  perfect  the  work  of  preparation  which  it 
had  previously  laid  out ;  as  the  days  passed  by, 
with  the  conflict  apparently  so  near  that  men  were 
appointed  to  watch  closely  every  movement  of  the 
British,  there  must  have  been  many  anxious  hearts 
within  this  town.  Nearly  every  family  had  one  or 
more  of  its  members  enrolled  in  the  military  company 
of  the  town ;  and  for  many  nights  husbands,  and  wives, 
and  children,  and  fathers,  and  mothers,  must  have  fallen 
asleep,  expecting,  before  morning,  to  hear  the  alarm 
rung  out  from  the  belfry  on  the  Green.  At  last,  the 
alarm  was  heard.  About  one  o'clock,  on  the  morning 
of  tlie  loth  (jf  April,  IITS,  the  inhabitants  of  Lexing- 
ton who  dwelt  along  the  road  leading  to  Boston  heard 
the  clattering  of  a  horse's  hoofs.  It  was  the  horse  of 
Paul  Revere,  who  was  hastening  with  a  message  from 
Joscpli  Warren,  to  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock, 
who  were  passing  the  night  with  Rev.  Jonas  Clark, 
that  a  large  body  of  the  King's  troops  were  embarked 
in  boats  from  Boston,  and  that  it  was  suspected  they 
were  ordered  to  destroy  the  stores  at  Concord.  Soon 
the  bell  sounded  the  alarm,  and  by  two  o'clock,  nearly 
all  the  members  of  Capt.  Parker's  company  answered 
to  their  names,  as  the  roll  was  called  upon  the  Green 


15 

If  it  be  asked,  For  what  did  these  men  meet  upon  the 
Green?  the  answer  is  given  by  Rev.  Mr.  Clark,  in 
his  narrative  of  the  events  of  that  day.  It  was  "  not 
with  any  design  of  commencing  hostilities  upon  the 
King's  troops,  but  to  consult  what  might  be  done  for 
our  own  and  the  people's  safety  :  And  also  to  be  ready 
for  whatever  service  Providence  might  call  us  out  to 
upon  this  alarming  occasion,  in  case  overt  acts  of 
violence  or  open  hostilities  should  be  committed." 
And  he  further  says:  "From  a  most  intimate  acquaint 
ance  with  the  sentiments  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 
town  then  collected  in  arms,  I  think  I  may  boldly 
assert  that  it  was  then  knoion  determination  not  to  com- 
mence hostilities  upon  the  king's  troops  ;  though  they 
were  equally  determined  to  stand  by  tlieir  rights  to  the 
last."  Capt.  Parker's  company  remained  upon  the 
Green  about  an  hour,  when,  hearing  nothing  of  the 
regulars,  the  company  was  dismissed,  with  orders  to 
appear  immediately  at  the  beat  of  the  drum.  Some  of 
the  members,  whose  homes  were  near,  retired  thither, 
while  the  greater  part  went  into  Buckman's  tavern^ 
which  stood  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road, 

I  wish  we  had  the  tales  of  that  wayside  inn  ;  that  we 
knew  of  what  those  men  talked  while  they  awaited  the 
roll  of  the  drum  which  should  call  them  again  into  line. 
They  were  subjects  of  George  III.,  yet  they  were  sup- 
plied with  powder  and  balls,  and  had  their  muskets 
loaded,  in  expectation  of  the  coming  of  the  king's 
troops.  Although  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony  had 
been  looking  forward  to  this,  their  position — the  king's 
subjects  in  arms  against  the  king's  troops — was  a 
strange    one,  and  it  must  have   seemed   so  to  them. 


16 

Doubtless  they  discussed  the  last  measures  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Cong-rcss,  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  of  the 
Committee  of  Supplies,  the  latest  news  about  the  Brit- 
ish in  Boston,  the  prospect  of  a  war  and  its  probable 
results,  and  the  object  of  the  militar}'-  expedition  which 
they  had  been  called  out  to  watch,  and^  if  possible, 
oppose.  No  doubt  there  were  as  patriotic  sentiments 
uttered  in  that  wayside  inn  on  that  night  as  had  been 
heard  in  the  churches  at  Cambridge  and  Concord  from 
members  of  the  Provincial  Congress.  Doubtless  they 
strengthened  each  other's  hearts  with  assertions  of  their 
readiness  to  meet  the  troops  of  the  king,  and  with 
determined  resolutions  that  George  III.,  Lord  North, 
and  the  Parliament  should  be  taught  a  lesson  long  to  be 
remembered.  If  the  Avails  of  that  building  could  only 
speak  and  tell  what  occurred  during  that  hour  when 
those  "  village  Hampdens  "  sat  and  talked  in  the  light 
of  the  cheerful  fire,  the  story  would  be  one  of  the  most 
interesting  relics  to  be  shown  on  the  coming  anni- 
versary. 

But  their  conversation  and  discussions  were  suddenly 
interrupted  by  the  roll  of  the  drum  and  the  alarm  gun. 
Grasping  their  muskets,  and  taking  one  look  at  them 
to  see  if  they  were  ready  for  resistance,  should  it  be 
necessary,  they  hastened  from  the  house,  and  to  the 
Green.  There,  while  they  were  forming  in  line,  —  be- 
fore the  line  was  completely  formed,  —  the  British 
troops  made  their  appearance  between  the  meeting- 
house and  the  tavern.  Captain  Parker  ordered  every 
man  to  stand  his  ground,  but  not  to  fire  uidess  fired 
upon.  Pitcairn,  the  commanding  ofliccr  of  the  British, 
shouted  to  the  Minute-men,  "  Lay  down  your  arms  and 


17 

disperse,  you  rebels!"  and  then  immediately  ordered 
his  troops  to  "  Fire  !  "  at  the  same  time  firing  his  own 
pistol.  The  British  fired,  first  over  the  heads  of  the 
Minute-men  ;  but  at  the  second  command,  they  fired  and 
killed  and  wounded  a  number  of  the  Americans.  See- 
ing his  men  outnumbered,  Parker  ordered  them  to  dis- 
perse. But  before  obeying  that  order,  some  of  the 
company  returned  the  fire,  and  others,  while  dispers- 
ing, did  the  same.  The  British  continued  pursuing 
and  firing,  until  all  who  were  alive  had  escaped.  Then 
the  troops  gave  three  huzzas,  and  proceeded  towards 
Concord,  leaving  eight  Americans  killed,  and  nine 
wounded,  and  having  had  two  or  three  of  their  men 
wounded.  Such  is  an  account  of  the  fight  or  skirmish 
at  Lexington,  on  the  morning  of  April  19,  17t5,  as  ac- 
cepted by  all  historians. 

The  news  of  what  had  been  done  reached  Concord 
before  the  British  did.  The  neighboring  towns  also 
had  been  alarmed,  and  men  from  Acton  and  Lin- 
coln stood  with  those  of  Concord  to  offer  further  resist- 
ance. While  a  part  of  the  British  troops  were  engaged 
in  searching  for  and  destroying  stores,  a  detachment 
left  to  guard  the  North  bridge  fired  upon  the  Ameri- 
cans, who  outnumbered  the  British,  three  to  one.  They 
returned  the  fire,  killing  one  and  wounding  a  number 
of  the  regulars.  The  British  that  were  at  North 
bridge  retreated  towards  the  centre  of  the  town,  and 
joined  the  main  body  of  their  troops  ;  and  soon  the 
whole  body  began  that  retreat  which  proved  so  disas- 
ti'ous  to  them,  all  the  way  from  Concord,  through  Lex- 
ington and  Arlington,  to  Charlestown. 

In  regard  to  what  took  place  on  Lexington  Green  in 


18 

the  morning',  attempts  have  been  made  within  the  past 
fifty  years  to  raise  a  question,  whether  or  no  the  min- 
ute-men retui-ned  the  fire  of  the  British   troops.     But 
there  never  was  any  such  question  to  be  raised.     There 
is  no  more  doubt  that  the    minute-men  on  Lexington 
Green  returned  the  fire    of  the  Britisli,  than  there    is 
that  the  minute  men  were  on  the  Green.     The  testimony 
which  conflicts  with  this  statement  was  not  such,  either 
in  amount  or  character,  as  caused  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
in  the   minds  of  the    members  of  the  Provincial    Con- 
gress that  the  fire  of  the  British  was  returned.     The 
narrative  of  the  events  of  April    19,    ordered   by  the 
Provincial  Congress  to  be  published  in  the  following 
month,    implies    that    the   fire   was   returned    by   the 
Americans,  in   the  statement,    that  the    British  "  first 
began  the  hostile  scene,  by  firing  on  this  small  party, 
by   which   they   killed    eight   men   on   the    spot,    and 
wounded  several  others,  before  any   guns   were  fired 
upon  the  troops  by  our  men."  In  the  proclamation  of  the 
Provincial  Congress  of  June  16,  17T5,  it  is  expressly 
stated  that  the  fire  of  the  British  was  returned.     "  The 
fire  was  returned  by  some  of  the  survivors,"  are  the 
words  employed.     Gordon,  who  visited  Lexington  and 
Concord  a  few  days  after  the  battle,  ascertained,  both 
from   the    Americans  and  from  British  prisoners,  that 
the    minute-men     did    return     the    fire.      Rev.   Jonas 
Clark,  of  Lexington,  in  his  naiTative  of  the  events  of 
the  day,  says :  "  Very  few  of  our  people  fired  at  all ;  and 
even  they  did  not  fire  till,  after  being  fired  upon  by  the 
troops,  they  were  wounded  themselves,  or  saw  others 
killed  or  wounded  by  them,  and  looked  upon  it  next  to 
impossible    for  them   to    escape."     This  is   what   the 


19 

earliest  authorities  say  ;  and  it  has  been  accepted  by  all 
historians  from  that  time  to  this  ;  the  last  historian, 
Higginson,  whose  book  was  published  only  a  few  weeks 
ago,  saying  distinctly:  "  The  Americans  fired  in  return." 
And  I  am  not  aware  that  there  was  ever  any  pretence 
of  a  doubt  about  this,  till  half  a  century  had  passed 
away.  There  is  no  fact  concerning  the  whole  American 
Revolution  which  has  much  better  authentication  than 
the  fact  that  on  Lexington  Green  began  that  resistance 
to  British  troops  which  was  continued  at  Concord, 
which  was  continued  all  the  way  from  Concord  to 
Charlestown,  which  was  continued  at  Bunker  Hill, 
which  was  continued  till  1783,  when  the  British  troops 
were  driven  from  Amei'ican  soil,  and  the  liberties  of 
the  American  colonies  were  secured. 

It  is  true  that  the  firing  by  the  minute-men  on  Lexing- 
ton Green  was  not  done  in  obedience  to  any  command 
of  Capt.  Parker.  Individual  soldiers  fired  upon  their 
own  responsibility.  But  I  am  not  aware  that  that  circum- 
stance detracts  from  the  significance  or  importance  of 
the  firing.  There  was  very  little  firing  by  the  Americans 
on  that  day  that  was  done  in  obedience  to  the  com- 
mands of  officers.  It  was  done  by  individuals  behind  trees, 
fences  and  walls.  If  the  firing  of  the  Americans  on 
Lexington  Green  was  not  of  much  importance,  then 
there  was  very  little  firing  of  importance  done  on  that 
day,  and  the  approaching  celebration  of  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  that  day  can  be  scai'cely  anything  more 
than  a  farce. 

It  may  be  asked,  What  was  gained  by  the  resistance 
made  on  Lexington  Green  ?  A  few  men  died  a  glorious 
death,  but  the  expedition  of  the  British  was  detained 


20 

only  about  half  an  hour.  What  advantage  was  gained 
by  the  Colonies  from  the  death  of  the  men  whose  dust 
reposes  under  yonder  monument  ?  Some  defeats  effect 
more  than  some  victories.  The  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was 
not  a  victory  for  the  Americans  ;  yet  no  one  will  deny 
that  it  exerted  a  great  influence  in  favor  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. It  must  be  remembered  that  the  organization  of 
the  Minute-men  throughout  this  Colony  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  resisting  any  open  acts  of  hostility  on  the  part  of 
the  British.  While  the  Colonists  were  determined  not  to 
be  the  aggressors,  they  were  equally  determined  to  op- 
pose every  open  act  of  British  hostility.  Word  came 
to  Lexington  that  the  British  troops  had  left  Boston 
that  evening,  evidently  with  hostile  intentions.  Samuel 
Adams,  John  Hancock,  Paul  Revere,  and  Jonas  Clark- 
were  right  when  they  decided  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  Minute-men  of  Lexingtou  to  be  preoared  for  any 
service  that  might  be  required.  It  was  no  uncertain 
sound  that  came  from  that  belfry  on  the  Green.  It  said 
plainly  that,  if  the  British  meant  war,  it  might  begin 
here. 

On  the  monument  at  Thevmopylfe,  which  marked 
the  spot  where  a  few  Greeks  allowed  themselves  to  be 
sacrificed  by  the  overwhelming  hosts  of  the  Persian  in- 
vader, the  poet  wrote  the  words  :  — 

"  Strangor,  the  tidings  to  the  Spartan  tell, 
That  here,  obeying  their  eommands,  we  fell." 

It  was  the  same  message  that  went  forth  on  that 
morning  of  April  19,  1775,  from  this  field  of  blood,  to 
the  inhabitants  of  this  Colony.  Obeying  the  commands 
of  the  people  of  this  Colony,  as  expressed  by  their  Con- 


21 

gress,  those  meu  fell  on  Lexington  Green.  And  had 
there  been  no  further  resistance  on  that  day,  their  blood 
would  have  been  enough  to  summon  the  people  of  this 
and  all  the  other  Colonies  to  arms,  and  to  drive  those 
who  were  worse  than  invaders  from  the  land  Truly 
said  Jonas  Clark,  "The  innocent  blood  of  our  brethren 
was  the  cement  of  the  Union,  and  seal  of  the  freedom 
of  these  American  States !  All  America  heard  the 
alarm,  deeply  felt  the  wound,  and  bravely  rose  to  re- 
venge their  brethren's  blood,  and  join  the  common 
cause." 

-It  should  not  be  our  endeavor,  at  this  time,  to  exalt 
our  town  on  account  of  what  was  done  here  a  century 
ago.  They  of  that  time  said,  "  Not  unto  us,  0  Lord, 
but  unto  thee  bo  the  glory  ;  "  and  in  this  let  us  follow 
their  example.  Let  us  be  content  with  the  position 
which  history  accords  to  the  heroes  of  that  morning, 
and  to  the  soil  on  which  they  fell.  Bancroft  says  of 
the  men  who  fell  at  that  time,  "  These  are  the  village 
heroes,  who  were  more  than  of  noble  blood,  proving  by 
their  spirit  that  they  were  of  a  race  divine.  They  gave 
their  lives  in  testimony  to  the  rights  of  mankind,  be- 
queathing to  their  country  an  assur&,nce  of  success  in 
the  mighty  struggle  which  they  began.  Their  names 
are  held  in  grateful  remembrance,  and  the  expanding 
millions  of  their  countrymen  renew  and  multiply  their 
praise  from  generation  to  generation."  Of  these  men 
Everett  said  :  "  To  the  end  of  time,  the  soil  whereon 
ye  fell  is  holy ;  and  shall  be  trod  with  revei-ence,  while 
America  has  a  name  among  the  nations."  And  of  the 
citizens  of  Lexington  he  said,  "  On  their  soil,  and  on 
that  day,  commenced  the  dread  appeal  to  arms,  long 


22 

anticipated,  though  loyally  deprecated  by  the  friends 
of  American  liberty.  On  that  day,  and  on  their  soil, 
commenced  the  struggle  in  which  so  much  hardship 
was  endured,  and  so  much  precious  blood  was  shed, 
and  which,  by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  was  con- 
ducted by  the  Heaven-appointed  chieftain  to  its  auspi- 
cious result."  But  whatever  may  be  said  of  those  men, 
or  of  the  ground  on  which  they  fell,  let  us  remember 
that  it  was  not  for  the  glory  of  this  town  that  they 
died.  As  we  consider  the  spirit  by  which  they  were 
inspired,  the  names  of  men  and  towns  sink  out  of  sight 
in  the  noble  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged.  Let 
us  not  look  back  to  that  day  saying,  "  What  a  day  for 
the  glory  of  Lexington  ! "  but  "  What  a  glorious  day 
for  America!  " 


23 


A  SERMON  DELIVERED  APRIL  18th,  18t5. 


PSALM  xxxm.  12. 
"blessed  is  the  nation  whose  god  is  the  lord." 

Before  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  set  their  feet 
upon  the  shores  of  New  England,  they  expressed  their 
purpose  in  coming  hither,  in  a  way  which  assures  us 
that  they  intended  to  found  a  nation  whose  God 
should  be  the  Lord.  In  the  cabin  of  the  "  Mayflower," 
the  Pilgrims  signed  a  compact,  a  part  of  which  is  : 
"  We,  whose  names  are  underwritten,  having  undei'- 
taken,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  advancement  of  the 
Christian  faith,  and  honor  of  our  king  and  country,  a 
voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts 
of  Virginia,  do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and 
mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  one  of  another, 
covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil 
body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation, 
and  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid."  During  the 
voyage  of  the  ship  "  Arbella,"  which  brought  over  the 
Puritans,  Gov.  Winthrop  wrote  a  treatise,  in  which  he 
stated  that  the  work  they  had  in  hand  was,  "  by  a  mutual 
consent,  through  a  special,  over-ruling  Providence,  and 
a  more  than  an  ordinary  approbation  of  the  churches 
of  Christ,  to  seek  out  a  place  of  cohabitation  and  con- 
sortship  under  a  due  form  of   government,   both  civil 


24 

and  ecclesiastical."  Both  colonies  attempted  to  carry 
tliis  theory  of  government  into  practice,  the  Puritans 
making-  the  right  of  franchise  dependent  upon  church- 
membership.  It  was  by  them  "  ordered  and  agreed, 
that,  for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to 
the  freedom  of  this  body  politic  but  such  as  are  members 
of  some  of  the  churches  within  the  limits  of  the  same." 
And  in  order  that  this  should  not  be  evaded  by  the  or- 
ganization of  churches  which  were  churches  only  in 
name,  it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court  that  it  "  doth 
not,  nor  will  hereafter,  approve  of  any  such  companies 
of  men  as  shall  henceforth  join  in  any  pretended  way  of 
church-fellowship,  without  they  shall  first  acquaint  the 
magistrates  and  the  ciders  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
churches  in  this  jurisdiction  with  their  intentions,  and 
have  their  approbation  therein.  And  further,  it  is  ordered, 
that  no  person  being  a  member  of  any  church  which  shall 
hereafter  be  gathered  without  the  approbation  of  the 
magistrates  and  the  greater  part  of  the  said  churches, 
shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this  Common- 
wealth." As  Palfrey  says  :  "  They  established  a  kind 
of  aristocracy  hitherto  unknown.  Not  birth,  nor 
wealth,  nor  learning,  nor  skill  in  war,  was  to  confer 
political  power  ;  but  personal  character,  —  goodness  of 
the  highest  type,  —  goodness  of  that  purity  and  force 
which  only  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  is  competent  to 
create."  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  question 
whether  such  theories  of  government  as  these,  or  such 
legislation,  were  or  were  not  wise.  But  I  bring  these 
facts  forward  to  show  the  spirit  with  which  our  fore- 
fathers came  to  this  country,  and  also  the  spirit  with 
which  they  worked  in  building  up    a  nation.      They 


25 

believed  that  they  were  as  truly  called  to  go  out  from 
England  to  a  land  that  God  would  show  them,  as  did 
Abraham  that  he  was  called  to  go  out  from  his  country. 
They  as  firmly  believed  that  they  were  building  up  a 
nation  in  this  country,  whose  God  was  the  Lord,  as 
did  the  descendants  of  Abraham  in  the  land  of  Palestine. 
If  we  sometimes  think  that  this  feeling  was  too  strong 
for  the  good  of  the  aborigines,  we  must  remember  also, 
that  without  some  such  feeling  as  this  they  would  not 
have  braved  all  the  danger  and  sufferings  that  they  did 
in  order  to  build  up  a  nation.  And  the  same  belief, 
that  in  some  way  God  was  the  Lord  and  the  Protector 
of  this  people,  was  not  extinguished  with  the  generation 
which  came  to  these  shores.  Their  children  and  their 
children's  children  received  such  a  belief  for  their  in- 
heritance. Eeligion  was  the  spirit  and  the  life  of  these 
colonies,  flowing  into  the  trunk  and  branches.  Not 
only  did  the  nation  have  its  root  in  religion,  and  its 
trunk  supported  by  it,  but  every  branch  which  pushed 
out  into  the  wilderness  bore  on  it  the  bud  which  was 
to  unfold  into  a  church.  Thus  it  was  in  the  settlement 
of  Lexington,  then  called  Cambridge  Farms.  Houses 
were  built,  scattered  here  and  there,  the  inhabitants 
going  to  the  settlement  at  Cambridge  to  worship.  But 
as  soon  as  the  number  of  families  was  large  enough  to 
make  a  church  of  themselves,  there  was  a  petition  to 
be  considered  as  a  distinct  parish.  It  was  the  church 
idea,  the  need  of  worship,  which  first  suggested  the 
thought  of  separation  from  the  parent  town  of  Cam- 
bridge. And  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  controversy  with  Great  Britain  arose,  and 
the  dark  war-cloud  loomed  up  above  the  eastern  horizon, 


26 

the  people  of  these  colonies, — of  the  New  England 
colonies  especially, — believed  that  the  controversy  was 
one  in  which  the  Supreme  Ruler  had  an  interest ;  and  if 
it  were  to  be  decided  by  an  appeal  to  arms,  they  might 
place  their  reliance  upon  that  God  who  was  the  Lord  of 
the  nation.  For  this  reason,  the  questions  at  issue 
were  discussed  over  and  over  again  in  the  pulpits  of  the 
land.  If  there  was  to  be  a  war,  it  would  be  a  religious 
war,  as  truly  as  were  the  wars  of  Joshua.  And  thus 
church  and  state  were  united.  Election  sermons  were 
printed,  and  circulated  as  political  tracts.  The  fire  of 
patriotism  which  burned  so  brightly  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  was  kindled  by  a  coal  from  the  altar  of  God. 
Headley  says  :  "  The  teachings  of  the  pulpit  of  Lexing- 
ton caused  the  first  blow  to  be  struck  for  American  In- 
dependence." But  the  blows  which  were  struck  for 
American  Independence  would  have  been  far  fewer  and 
far  feebler,  had  it  not  been  for  patriotic  teachers  in  most 
of  the  pulpits  of  these  colonies. 

In  December,  1774,  when  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  in 
operation,  and  when  the  prospect  for  the  approaching 
winter  was  very  dark,  the  Provincial  Congress  appealed 
to  the  ministers  to  aid  in  the  common  cause.  "  In  a 
day  like  this,"  they  said,  "  when  all  the  friends  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty  ax-e  exerting  themselves  to  deliver 
this  country  from  its  present  calamities,  we  cannot  but 
place  great  hope  in  an  order  of  men  who  have  ever 
distinguished  themselves  in  their  country's  cause  ;  and 
do  thereby  recommend  to  the  ministers  of  the  gospel 
in  the  several  towns  and  other  places  in  this  colony, 
that  they  assist  us  in  avoiding  that  dreadful  slavery 
with  which  we  are  now  threatened,    by  advising  the 


21 

people  of  their  several  congregations,  as  they  wish 
their  prosperity'',  to  abide  by,  and  strictly  adhere  to, 
the  resolutions  of  the  Continental  Congress."  And  to 
the  inhabitants  of  this  colony,  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress could  say  :  "  Let  nothing  unbecoming  our  charac- 
ter as  Americans,  as  citizens  and  Christians,  be  justly 
chargeable  to  us.  Whoever  considers  the  number  of 
brave  men  inhabiting  North  America,  will  know  that  a 
general  attention  to  military  discipline  must  so  establish 
their  rights  and  liberties,  as  under  God  to  render  it 
impossible  to  destroy  them."  Thus  did  the  Provincial 
Congress,  the  very  first  political  body  created  solely 
by  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony,  acknowledge  their 
obligations  as  Christians,  and  their  dependence  upon 
God. 

If  we  look  at  the  election  sermons  delivered  a  few  years 
before  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  we  shall  find  the 
doctrine  of  resistance  to  tyranny  very  plainly  stated. 
In  1111,  Rev.  John  Tucker,  of  Newbury,  preached  the 
election  sermon  before  Gov.  Hutchinson,  the  Council 
and  House  of  Representatives,  in  which  he  said : 
"  Proper  submission  in  a  free  state  is  a  medium  between 
slavish  subjection  to  arbitrary  claims  of  Rulers,  on  one 
hand,  and  a  Itiwless  license  on  the  other.  It  is  obedience 
in  subjects  to  all  orders  of  government  which  are  con- 
sistent with  their  constitutional  rights  and  privileges. 
So  much  submission  is  due,  and  to  be  readily  yielded 
by  every  subject ;  and  beyond  this,  it  cannot  be  justly 
demanded,  because  Rulers  and  people  are  equally 
bound  by  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  constitution." 
Here  was  the  doctrine  on  which  the  colonists  based  their 
right  of  resistance,   promulgated  from  the  pulpit  four 


28 

years  before  the  Eevolution.  In  UTS,  Rev.  Charles 
Turner,  in  the  Election  Sermon,  said  :  "  When  the  civil 
rights  of  a  country  receive  a  shock,  it  may  justly  ren- 
der the  ministers  of  God  deeply  thoughtful  for  the  safety 
of  sacred  privileges — for  religious  liberty  is  so  blended 
with  civil,  tliat  if  one  falls  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
the  other  will  continue."  In  1174,  when  matters 
seemed  to  be  drawing  to  a  crisis,  the  preacher  of  the 
Election  sermon.  Rev.  Gad  Hitchcock,  of  Pembroke, 
spoke  in  still  bolder  words  from  the  text,  "  When  the 
righteous  are  in  authority  the  people  rejoice,  but  when 
the  wicked  bear  rule  the  people  mourn."  "  Our  danger 
is  not  visionary,  but  real ;  our  contention  is  not  about 
trifles,  but  about  liberty  and  property,  and  not  ours 
only,  but  those  of  posterity  to  the  latest  generation.  If 
I  am  mistaken  in  supposing  plans  are  formed  and  exe- 
cuting, subversive  of  our  natural  and  chartered  rights 
and  privileges,  and  incompatible  with  every  idea  of 
liberty,  all  America  is  mistaken  with  me.  Our  con- 
tinued complaints,  our  repeated  humble,  but  fruitless, 
unregarded  petitions  and  remonstrances,  and  if  I  may 
be  allowed  the  sacred  allusion,  our  groanings  that  can- 
not be  uttered,  are  at  once  indications  of  our  sufferings, 
and  the  feeling  sense  we  have  of  them.  L'et  the  Gov- 
ernor in  his  chair  of  state  hear  it :  we  not  only  mourn, 
but  with  groanings  that  cannot  be  uttered,  and  all 
because  the  wicked  rule.  The  castle  cannot  shelter  liim 
from  that  scorching  thunderbolt.  Families  are  divided, 
brother  is  arrayed  against  brother,  friend  against  friend. 
Society  is  cut  from  its  moorings,  and  hate  and  conster- 
nation reign  on  every  side,  and  all  because  the  ivicked 
bear  rule.     King  George  may  say  the  evils  that  produce 


29 

this  state  of  things  are  imaginary;  but  I  tell  you,  and  I 
tell  the   tyrant  to  his  face,  it  is  because  the  wicked  hear 
rule.''     When  such  sermons  as  these  were  preached,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  the  Governor,  in  1774,  refused  to 
appoint  a  fast :     "  For  the  request,"  he  said,  "  was  only 
to  give    an  opportunity    for   sedition  to  flow  from  the 
pulpit."      On   account  of  the  sulferings  of  the  Boston 
people  in  the  year  1774,  occasioned  by  the  enforcement 
of  the  Port  Bill,  the  ministers  of  Connecticut  wrote  to 
the  ministers  of  Boston:    "The  taking  away  of  civil 
liberty  will  involve  the  ruin  of  religious  liberty  also. 
Bear  your  heavy  load  with  Christian  fortitude  and  reso- 
lution."    From  the  Boston  ministers  Avent  back  the  an- 
swer :  "  While  we  complain  to  Heaven  and  earth  of  the 
cruel  oppression  we  are  under,  we  ascribe  righteous- 
ness to  God.  The  surprising  union  of  the  colonies  affords 
encouragement.     It  is  an  inexhaustible  source  of  com- 
fort that  the  Lord  omnipotent  reigneth."     Thus  there 
was  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  underneath  the  thought 
of  independence,    the  thought  that   the    spirit   of  the 
church  and  the  state  are  one  ;  that  religious  liberty  and 
civil  liberty  must  stand  or  fall  together.     If  the  inhabit- 
ants of  these  colonies  believed  they  had  the  right  to 
stand  up  for  their  liberties,  it  was  because  they  regarded 
those  liberties  as  the  gift  of  God,  of  which  not  even 
kings  or  any  earthly  authorities  had  the  right  to  de- 
prive them. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  to 
think  of  the  union  of  religion  and  government,  without 
having  their  thoughts  turn  to  the  man  who,  one  hundred 
years  ago,  was  pastor  of  this  church  and  society,  the 
Rev.  Jonas  Clark.     There  is  no  other  name  connected 


30 

with  Lexington  that  better  deserves  honorable  mention, 
at  this  centennial  anniversary,  than  his.  And  here 
to-day,  among  the  members  of  this  religious  society,  of 
which  he  was  once  the  pastor,  all  our  thoughts  of  him 
must  be  tinged  with  a  peculiar  feeling  of  reverence. 
There  is  only  one  thing  that  we  can  see  which  remains 
to-day  to  recall  his  name  and  memory.  The  old 
chui'ch  in  which  he  preached  is  gone.  Of  those  who 
formed  his  congregation,  none  remain.  Only  this  Bible 
remains.  It  was  presented  to  this  society  by  Gov. 
John  Hancock,  in  the  year  1T93,  and  during  the  last 
twelve  years  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Clark,  it  was  used  by 
him  in  the  religious  services  of  the  society.  His  hands 
have  turned  over  its  leaves.  His  voice  has  been  heard 
speaking  words  of  sacred  wisdom  as  his  eyes  rested 
upon  its  pages.     It  is  a  precious  relic. 

But,  if  there  were  nothing  outward  remaining  to 
remind  us  of  him,  still  his  name  could  not  possibly  be 
forgotten  on  such  an  occasion  as  this,  nor  the  spirit  of 
the  man  be  remembered  without  the  utmost  reverence. 
Mr.  Clark  was  pastor  of  this  society  during  a  period  of 
fifty  years  and  ten  days,  having  been  ordained  Novem- 
ber 5,  1155,  and  having  died  November  15,  1805. 
Had  nothing  unusual  occurred  in  this  colony  during 
those  fifty  years,  Mr.  Clark  Avould  have  been  remem- 
bered as  an  earnest  preacher,  a  devoted  pastor,  and  a 
man  of  "  strong  sense  and  sound  judgment."  "His 
public  discourses,"  it  is  said,  "  consisted  not  of  learned 
discussions  on  speculative  or  metaphysical  subjects, 
nor  yet  of  dry  lectures  on  heathen  morality,  but  of  the 
most  interesting  truths  of  the  gospel,  well  arranged  for 
the  edification  of  his  hearers.     And  they  were  delivered 


31 

not  in  a  formal,  heartless  manner,  but  with  uncommon 
energy  and  zeal."  But,  living  as  he  did  during  a  pecu- 
liar period,  requiring  peculiar  talents,  he  showed  himself 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Church  and  state  were  united 
in  him.  He  was  not  only  a  minister  but  a  statesman. 
Probably  no  one  understood  the  questions  at  issue  be- 
tween the  colonies  and  the  mother  country  better  than 
he.  And  his  people  received  the  benefit  of  his  states- 
manship, not  only  in  their  town  meetings,  but  from  the 
pulpit.  "  Enough  of  his  discourses,"  says  a  descend- 
ant of  his,  *'have  been  preserved  to  make  it  plain 
what,  on  a  thousand  occasions  long  before  even  the 
passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  would  have  been  the  strain 
of  his  thought  and  of  his  speech  ;  so  that,  when  the 
struggle  actually  commenced,  the  people  were  ready 
for  it,  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  reasons  on  which 
the  duty  of  resistance  was  founded,  and  prepared  to 
discharge  the  duty  at  every  hazard.  No  single  individ- 
ual probably  did  so  much  to  educate  the  people  up  to 
that  point  of  intelligence,  firmness  and  courage,  as  their 
honored  and  beloved  pastor."  In  one  of  his  sei'mons, 
Mr.  Clark  thus  illustrated  the  necessity  of  religion  to 
government:  "In  civilized  nations,  and  where  civil 
government  hath  been  established,  many  cities  and 
places  of  importance  may  be  found  without  walls,  with- 
out guards,  and  even  without  weapons  or  any  prepara- 
tions for  common  defence.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  find 
any  without  a  temple,  an  altar,  a  grove,  or  some  other 
place  appointed  and  appropriated  to  the  purpose  of 
religion,  the  acknowledgment  of  Heaven,  and  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Deity,  in  some  shape  or  other."  It  is  well 
known  that  Mr.  Clark  di-ew  up  most  of  the  important 


32 

political  papers  and  resolutions,  in  regard  to  the  great 
question  at  issue,  which   were  adopted  by  the  town  of 
Lexington.      There   can    be   no   doubt    that   the   men 
who  assembled  on  Lexington  Green,  on  the  morning  of 
April  19th,   1715,  were  there  to  make  a  practical  appli- 
cation of  the  doctrine  which  they  had  heard  enforced 
in  the  church.     Robert  Munroe,  Jonas  Parker,  Samuel 
Hadley,    Jonathan    Harrington,    Isaac    Muzzy,    Caleb 
Harrington,  and  John  Brown,  who  were  slain  on  that 
morning,  doubtless  felt  that,  if  their  lives  were  sacrificed, 
they  would  be  offered  up,  not  only  on  the  altar  of  their 
country,  but  on  the  altar  of  their  God.     Of  their  coun- 
try and  their  God  they  could  truly  say,  "To  die  for  her 
is  serving  Thee."     And  this  feeling  was  not  confined  to 
this  town.     Everywhere  men  looked  upon  the  war  as  a 
holy  war.     They  believed  that   when  they  took  their 
muskets  and    hastened   to  the  conflict,  they  were  en- 
gaged in  a  religious  act,  just  as  truly  as  when  they  met 
to  worship  God.     They  went  into  the  war,  feeling,   as 
David  had  said  :     "The  Lord  is  on  my  side;  I  will  not 
fear  ;  what  can  man  do  unto  me?"     "  Call  me  an  enthu- 
siast,"   said  Samuel  Adams;    "this  union  among  the 
colonies,  and  warmth  of  affection,  can  be  attributed  to 
nothing  less  than  the  agency  of  the  Supreme  Being.     If 
we  believe  that  he  superintends  and  directs  the  affairs 
of  empires,  we  have  reason  to  expect   the  restoration 
and  establishment  of  the  public  liberties." 

Headley  says:  "  In  every  quiet  little  valley  and  se- 
questered nook  in  New  England,  the  pastor  had  taught 
the  doctrines  of  freedom,  and  preached  the  duty  of 
resistance  to  oppression.  The  farmers  and  mechanics 
listened  with  reverence  and  confidence  to  these  teach- 


33 

ings,  and  showed  their  faith  by  their  works  when  the 
hour  of  trial  came.  At  the  battle-cry  that  rolled  over 
the  land  from  Lexington  and  Concord,  they  shouldered 
their  muskets,  and  went  forth  with  the  blessing  of  their 
pastor  on  their  heads,  and  his  fervent  prayers  for  their 
success  following  their  footsteps.  They  had  been  taught 
from  the  pulpit  that  it  was  the  cause  of  God,  and  they 
took  it  up  in  the  full  belief  that  they  had  his  blessing  and 
his  promise.  If  the  scenes  that  transpired  in  the  count- 
less villages  and  hamlets  of  New  England,  when  the  news 
of  the  first  blood  shed  by  British  troops  swept  over  the 
colonies,  and  the  first  uprising  of  the  people  took  place, 
could  be  described  just  as  they  occurred,  in  all  the 
beauty,  pathos,  patriotism  and  religion  that  character- 
ized them,  the  Revolutionary  struggle  would  possess  an 
interest  that  all  its  thrilling  battles  and  perilous  marches, 
deeply  as  they  enlist  our  sympathies,  can  never  im- 
part." The  historian  describes  one  such  scene,  in 
Stockbridge,  at  which  place  the  news  of  the  Lexington 
and  Concord  fight  arrived  on  Sunday  forenoon.  Signal 
shots  were  immediately  fired,  and  men  who  were  pre- 
paring to  go  to  the  house  of  worship  took  down  their 
firelocks,  bid  their  families  farewell,  and  hastened  to  the 
yard  of  the  deacon,  the  appointed  place  of  meeting. 
The  old  pastor  came  and  stood  among  them,  reading 
from  his  Bible,  ofiering  a  prayer,  imparting  his  blessing, 
and  then  "  twenty  men,  with  knapsacks  on  their  backs, 
and  muskets  on  their  shoulders,  started  on  foot  for  Bos- 
ton, nearly  two  hundred  miles  distant." 

So  it  was  throughout  a  great  part  of  the  colonies. 
Whether  men  waited  or  not  for  religious  services,  they 
all  went  forth  with  the  same  spirit, — that  their  cause  was 


34 

just  because  it  was  the  cause  of  God.  Though  in  the 
midst  of  oppression  and  distress,  they  believed  that  a 
blessing  was  awaiting  the  nation  because  the  God  of 
the  nation  was  the  Lord. 

A  part  of  the  text  of  the  sermon  preached  in  Lex- 
ington in  1779,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  battle,  was 
"  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us."  At  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town.  Rev.  Mr. 
Williams,  then  pastor  of  this  society,  preached  a  dis- 
course, with  the  same  text :  "  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord 
helped  us."  And  now  that  we  have  come  to  the  cen- 
tennial anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  can  we 
say  the  same  thing  of  our  nation:  "Hitherto  hath  the 
Lord  helped  us?"  Looking  around  us  now,  and  looking 
as  far  into  the  future  as  possible,  can  we  say,  Blessed 
is  this  nation,  whose  God  is  the  Lord  ?  Have  we  any 
of  that  old  faith  of  our  forefathers  left  ?  Have  we  any 
faith  that  God  cares  for  this  nation,  in  the  least  ? 
Whether  we  have  any  of  that  faith  or  not,  I  believe  we 
ought  to  have.  It  may  be  necessary  to  modify  it  some- 
what; but  there  is  a  faith  in  national  dependence  upon 
God  which  no  nation  should  be  without.  I  am  aware 
that  men  with  little  or  no  religious  spirit  may  say  that 
such  a  faith  was  an  illusion  with  our  forefathers  ;  and 
they  may  add  that  it  was  also  an  illusion  with  the  Jews, 
who,  although  firmly  believing  that  the  God  of  their 
nation  was  the  Lord,  and  that  their  nation  was  to  be 
blessed  on  that  account,  yet  saw  their  nation,  as  a 
nation,  utterly  destroyed.  If  those  words  are  true, 
"  Blessed  is  the  nation  whose  God  is  the  Lord,"  why 
was  it,  they  will  ask,  that  there  was  such  a  sad  end  to 
the   Jewish    nation,  which,    before  all   other  nations, 


35 

claimed  to  recognize  the  Lord  as  its  God  ?  The  answer 
to  that  question  will  lead  us  to  the  true  faith  of 
national  dependence  upon  God. 

The  Jews  were  fond  of  calling  themselves  the  chosen 
people  of  God  ;  but  they  forgot  in  the  later  period  of 
their  history  that  there  could  be  a  nation  chosen  by 
God  in  any  abiti'ary  manner.  They  forgot  that  there 
could  be  any  chosen  people  of  God,  except  as  they 
obeyed  the  commandments  of  God ;  they  forgot  the 
words  which  Moses  had  spoken  to  the  nation  :  "  The 
Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a  special  people 
unto  himself.  Thou  shalt,  therefore,  keep  the  com- 
mandments and  the  statutes,  and  the  judgments  which 
I  command  thee  this  day.  Wherefore  it  shall  come  to 
pass  if  ye  keep  and  do  them,  that  the  Lord  thy  god 
will  love  thee  and  bless  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed 
above  all  people.  But  it  shall  be,  if  thou  do  at  all 
forget  the  Lord  thy  God  and  walk  after  other  Gods, 
and  serve  them  and  worship  them,  I  testify  against 
you  this  day,  that  ye  shall  surel}'-  perish."  That  is  the 
faith  of  national  dependence  upon  God  that  Moses 
taught. 

It  was  the  same  theory  of  national  dependence  upon 
God  that  the  prophet  Jeremiah  taught  the  stubborn  Jews 
in  the  parable  of  "The  Potter."  "I  went  down  to  the 
potter's  house,  and,  behold,  he  wrought  a  work  on  the 
wheels.  And  the  vessel  that  he  made  of  clay  was  marred 
in  the  hands  of  the  potter  ;  so  he  made  it  again  another 
vessel,  as  it  seemed  good  to  the  potter  to  make  it.  Then 
the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  me,  saying,  0  house  of 
Israel,  cannot  I  do  with  you  as  this  potter  ?  saith  the 
Lord.     Behold  as  the  clay  is  in  the  potter's  hand,  so 


36 

are  ye  in  mine  hands,  0  house  of  Israel,"  That  does 
not  mean  that  God  governs  the  nations  arbitrarily,  but 
rather  in  accordance  with  certain  laws.  As  F.  W. 
Maurice  said  :  "  When  Jeremiah  was  sent  to  study  the 
potter's  work,  he  was  sent  to  ascertain,  not  what  the 
potter  might  do  if  he  liked,  but  what  he  liked.  He 
desired  to  make  a  vessel  of  a  certain  form.  That  was 
the  end  for  which  he  labored.  If  there  is  any  force  or 
worth  in  the  analogy  at  all,  it  must  mean  that  there  is  a 
form  according  to  which  God  is  seeking  to  mould  men 
and  nations.  It  must  imply  that  he  is  not  doing  any 
single  act  arbitrarily,  or  without  reference  to  a  purpose ; 
it  must  imply  that  he  is  patiently,  continually  working 
for  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  ;  and  ifthey  do  not 
submit  to  this  process,  if  they  persist  in  not  taking  the 
mould  which  he  would  give  them,  then  the  clay  is 
broken  that  it  may  be  re-formed,  that  the  original  intent 
of  the  owner  may  still  be  carried  out." 

John  the  Baptist  taught  the  same  doctrine  to  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  :  "Think  not  to  say  within 
yourselves,  we  have  Abraham  to  our  father ;  for  I  say 
unto  you  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraliam."  And  to  the  hardened  Jews 
who  resisted  the  truth,  but  said,  "  Abraham  is  our 
fatlier,"  the  Saviour  taught  the  same  doctrine  :  "  If  ye 
were  Abraham's  children  ye  would  do  the  works  of 
Abraham."  But  the  teachings  of  patriarch,  prophet, 
and  of  the  Saviour  could  avail  nothing.  The  recogni- 
nition  of  the  Lord  as  their  God  was  only  in  name  with 
the  Jews.  There  was  no  reality  in  it..  And  the  sins 
of  that  people  led,  by  direct  laws,  established  by  God, 
to  destruction. 


37 

In  the  hands  of  God  are  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
There  may  be  a  chosen  nation  now,  just  as  truly  as 
there  ever  was.  But  the  chosen  nation  is  the  nation 
which  keeps  the  divine  laws,  and  obeys  the  divine  com- 
mands. "  Blessed  is  the  nation  whose  God  is  the 
Lord  ;  '^  not  in  name,  merely,  but  in  truth.  And  God 
blesses  nations  for  obedience,  not  arbitrarily,  as  you 
reward  a  boy  for  doing  an  errand.  But  the  laws  of  God 
are  such  that  national  strength  is  the  result  of  obedi- 
ence, and  national  weakness  is  the  result  of  disobedience. 
It  is  possible  to  trace  the  connection  between  the  im- 
morality, the  disobedience  of  the  commands  of  God  of 
some  of  the  ancient  nations,  and  the  weakness  which 
resulted  in  their  downfall.  It  is  sometimes  said  of 
nations  that  they  have  their  period  of  rising,  and  their 
period  of  degeneration  and  overthrow,  as  if  it  were  an 
invariable  rule.  But  if  it  seem  so,  it  is  because  there 
never  has  been  a  nation  capable  of  resisting  the  tempta- 
tions of  prosperity.  "Righteousness,"  it  is  said, 
"exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people." 
So  long  as  a  nation  keeps  in  the  path  of  righteousness, 
so  long  it  will  be  blessed  by  God,  so  long  will  it  have 
strength  to  remain  a  nation.  I  do  not  mean  that 
righteousness  alone  will  maintain  a  place  for  any  people 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  There  are  other  requi- 
sites for  national  existence  than  righteousness,  or 
obedience  of  divine  laws.  But  when  all  these  requisites 
exist  in  a  nation,  righteousness  will  tend  to  strengthen 
and  perpetuate  it,  and  unrighteousness  will  tend  to 
weaken  and  overthrow  it. 

If  we  ask  ourselves,  what  will  be  the  future  of  our  coun- 
try, let  us  remember  that  we  are  not  a  chosen  people 


or  a  favored  nation  now,  because  we  had  the  Pilgrims 
and  the  Puritans  for  our  fathers.  We  can  see  how 
their  virtues  made  them  strong,  and  how  the  virtues 
of  the  colonists,  a  century  ago,  also  made  them  strong. 
But  unless  wo  also  have  their  virtues,  we  can  not  rely 
upon  our  ancestors  for  our  national  strength  to-day.  If 
there  is  anything  which  threatens  the  overthrow  of  this 
nation  to-day,  if  there  is  anything  at  which  thoughtful 
men  may  feel  alarmed,  it  is  the  neglect  of  some  of  those 
stern  virtues  of  our  fathers  which  we  affect  to  despise. 
I  do  not  wish  to  see  church  and  state  united  as  it  was 
with  the  Puritans.  Their  religious  test  was  a  failure, 
so  far  as  keeping  bad  men  out  of  office  was  concerned. 
But  never  was  there  a  time  when  we  could  see  plainer 
than  now,  that  our  continued  prosperity  depends  on 
placing  men  in  office  possessing  the  principles  which 
Christianity  inculcates.  When  a  foreigner  can  write 
about  us  as  Strauss,  the  German,  has  written,  it  is  time 
for  us  to  try  and  see  ourselves  as  others  see  us.  "The 
air  of  the  United  States,"  he  says,  "is  infected  by  a 
corruption  of  its  leading  classes,  only  to  be  paralleled  in 
the  most  abandoned  parts  of  Europe.  The  practice  in 
their  presidential  elections,  the  inevitable  corruption 
following  in  their  wake,  the  necessity  of  rewarding  the 
accomplices  by  giving  them  places,  and  then  of  winking 
at  the  delinquencies  of  their  administration,  the  venality 
and  corruption  which  are  thus  engendered  in  the  ruling 
circles, — all  these  deep-lying  evils  of  the  much-vaunted 
republic  have  been  brought  into  such  glaring  promi- 
nence within  the  last  few  years,  that  the  eagerness  of 
German  orators,  newspapers,  writers,  and  poets,  to  go  in 
search  of  their  political,  and  even  moral  ideals  to  the 


39 

other  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  has  suffered  consider- 
able abatement."  We  may  pretend  to  despise  all  such 
foreign  criticism  as  that,  but  we  cannot  deny  that  there 
is  a  vein  of  truth  in  it.  And  we  may  be  sure  that  when 
we  cease  to  be  an  ideal  example  for  every  individual  in 
all  nations  who  is  looking  toward  freedom,  we  have 
not  only  ceased  to  perform  one  of  our  most  important 
missions,  but  we  are  losing  that  element  of  grandeur 
and  of  strength  which  has  hitherto  given  us  an  exalted 
place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

But  although  there  is  evidently  danger  in  this  direc- 
tion, I  cannot  despair  of  the  final  result.  Although  there 
are  thousands  of  politicians  who  think  that  trickery  and 
bribery,  and  corruption,  so  long  as  they  aid  their  party, 
are  pei-fectly  innocent,  still  there  are  others,  who  know 
that  these  things  are  sapping  the  foundations  of  the 
government.  And  there  is  no  small  amount  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  and  colonists  still  remaining 
among  us,  which  holds  that  disobedience  of  the  laws  of 
God  will  work  injury  to  the  nation.  That  spirit  is  patient 
and  long-suffering  under  distress  and  oppression  ;  but  if 
national  evils  continue  to  increase,  that  spirit  will  ere 
long  prompt  men  to  join  hands  and  drive  corrupt  politi- 
cians from  the  goveri;ment,  as  it  inspired  men  a  century 
ago  to  band  together,  and  drive  the  British  from 
America.  It  looks  now  as  if,  before  long,  party  plat- 
forms will  be  plaiicd  down,  till  nothing  remains  but 
questions  of  truth,  honesty  and  purity  ;  and  when  it 
comes  to  that,  there  is  no  doubt  where  the  religious 
spirit  of  our  forefathers  will  force  the  majority  to  stand. 
It  is  true,  perhaps,  that  there  is  less  outward  observance 
of  religion  than  there  was  with  our  forefathers  ;  but  the 


40 

religious  spirit  still  remains,  and  the  blessings  which  it 
prompted  them  to  struggle  for  a  century  ago,  it  will 
not  now  allow  corrupt  politicians  to  destroy. 

The  celebration  of  this  series  of  centennial  anniversa- 
ries, which  is  about  to  begin,  will  but  poorly  honor  the 
men  who  shed  their  blood  on  yonder  Green,  and  those 
who  followed  them  in  their  act  of  sacrifice,  in  all  the 
colonies,  if  it  ends  with  the  noise  of  cannons,  the  roll  of 
drums,  and  eloquent  words.  Unless  it  incites  us  to  be 
more  watchful  of  the  blessings  for  which  they  gave  their 
lives,  more  watchful  against  every  foe,  it  seems  as  if 
their  sleeping  dust  must  cry  out  shame !  We  would 
call  ourselves  unworthy  descendants  of  tliem,  if  without 
resistance  we  allowed  a  foreign  enemy  to  deprive  us  of 
the  liberty  which  they  obtained.  Are  we  any  less  un- 
worthy if  we  allow  the  dishonesty  and  corruption  of 
politicians  to  undermine  the  foundation  of  what  the}' 
established  ?  This  celebration  will  be  unworthy  of  this 
people  unless  it  leads  us  to  honor  the  virtues  of  our 
forefathers,  and  inspires  us  with  more  of  that  spirit  of 
dependence  upon  God,  as  a  nation,  which  they  pos- 
sessed ;  unless  it  leads  us  to  make  the  Lord  the  God  of 
our  nation,  through  obedience  of  his  laws.  It  will  not 
be  enough  to  place  the  name  God  in  the  constitution, 
for  that  would  be  oidy  like  the  Jews,  careful  fur  the 
name  of  God,  but  careless  about  his  spirit  in  the  heart. 
The  poet  has  said  of  the  Ship  of  State,  the  Union : 

"  We  know  what  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  a  forge  and  what  ri  heat 
"Were  shaped  the  anchoi's  of  thy  hope." 

We  have  seen  that  those  anchors  of  hope  came  from  the 


41 

forge  of  the  church,  and  the  heat  of  religious  enthusiasm  ; 
and  the  more  we  make  our  anchor  of  hope  now  that  reli- 
gion which  consists  in  obedience  of  the  laws  of  God,  the 
more  certain  shall  we  be  that  the  next  century  of  our 
national  existence  will  be  brighter  than  the  past. 


42 


A  SERMON  DELIVERED  APRIL  25th,  1815. 


EXODUS  XII,    14. 

"  This  Day  shall  be  unto  you  rou  a  Memorial  ;  ye 

SHALL   keep   it  A   FeAST  I5Y  AN  ORDINANCE  FOREVER."    . 

It  has  been  a  common  custom  among  all  nations  to 
perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  heroic  men  and  heroic 
deeds  by  some  kind  of  memorial.     The  forms  of  heroic 
men  have  been  carved  in  marble,  or  cast  in  metal ;  and  the 
accounts  of  heroic  deeds  have  been  inscribed  on  the 
same  enduring  substances.     The  cities  of  Athens  and 
Rome  were  noted  for  the  great  number  of  such  memori- 
als which  they  contained.     In  the  early  history  of  the 
Jews,  we  find  accounts  of  this  same  custom,  although 
observed  in  a  much  ruder  manner.     Jacob,  after  he  had 
dreamed  of  the  ladder  with  the  angels  ascending  and 
descending,  "  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,"  it  is  said, 
"  and  took  the  stone  that  he  had  put  for  his   pillow,  and 
set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  and  poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it." 
When  the  children  of  Israel  passed  through  the  river 
Jordan,  Joshua  commanded  twelve  men,  one  man  out 
of  each  of  the  twelve  tribes,  to  take  each  a  stone  from 
the  bed  of  the  river,  and  carry  them  to  the  land,  and 
place  them  together,   "  that  this,"  he  said,  "  may  be  a 
sign  among   you,  that   when    your  children  ask  their 
fathers  in  time  to  come,  saying,  what  mean  j'^e  by  these 
stones,  then  ye  shall  answer  them,  '  That  the  waters  of 
Jordan  were  cut  off  before  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of 


43 

the  Lord,  and  those  stones  shall  be  for  a  memorial  unto 
the  children  of  Israel  for  ever.' "  In  the  same  way  the 
service  of  the  passover  was  to  be  annually  a  memorial 
of  the  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  Egypt. 
"  This  day/'  said  Moses,  "  shall  be  unto  you  for  a  me- 
morial ;  ye  shall  keep  it  a  feast  by  an  ordinance  for 
ever.  And  when  your  children  shall  say  unto  you, 
what  mean  you  by  this  service  ;  ye  shall  say,  '  It  is  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Lord's  passover,  who  passed  over  the 
houses  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  when  he 
smote  the  Egyptians,  and  delivered  our  houses.'  " 

No  one  can  doubt  that  such  memorials,  whether  ex- 
pressed in  metal  or  stone,  or  in  the  observance  of  a  day, 
serve  a  very  important  purpose  in  the  life  of  a  nation. 
They  keep  alive  the  memory  of  those  who  labored  and 
suffered  for  the  nation  ;  they  keep  fresh  in  the  thoughts 
the  heroic  deeds  of  the  past,  all  of  which  tends  to  in- 
crease the  spirit  of  patriotism  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  So  long  as  the  people  of  a  nation  cherish  the 
memory  of  its  founders  and  sustainers,  no  danger  can 
threaten  the  existence  of  the  nation,  without  arousing 
multitudes  for  national  defence.  The  Jews  were  care- 
ful to  observe  the  passover,  the  memorial  of  their 
deliverance  from  Egypt ;  and  although  they  were  finally 
conquered,  and  destroyed  as  a  nation,  yet  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  custom  which  still  remains  wherever  a 
remnant  of  them  can  be  found,  of  observing  this  annual 
memorial  feast,  serves  to  keep  them  distinct  from  every 
other  nation,  although  they  are  scattered  over  every 
part  of  the  world. 

Our  annual  celebration  of  the  declaration  of  American 
Independence  has  been  of  immense  value  to  this  nation. 


u 

We  are  apt  to  smile  at  the  noisy  demonstrations  and 
exultant  orations  of  the  Fourth  of  July  ;  but  although 
we  may  be  a  little  critical  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
day  is  observed,  this  nation  can  not  well  afford  to  dis- 
pense with  the  celebration  of  that  important  event  in  our 
history.  As  the  Jewish  children  asked  concerning  the 
observance  of  the  passover,  "What  mean  ye  by  this 
service  ?  "  so  have  the  children  in  this  country  asked 
the  same  concerning  this  annual  celebration,  and  they 
have  learned  its  meaning ;  and  its  noise  and  tumult  have 
made  an  impression  on  every  boy's  heart.  That  readi- 
ness with  which  men  in  every  part  of  the  land,  in  1861, 
answered  the  call  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  our 
national  existence  had  its  foundation  in  Fourth-of-July 
celebrations.  May  the  time  never  come  when  the  day 
will  cease  to  be  observed  in  some  appropriate  manner. 
When  the  Fourth  of  July  ceases  to  be  an  exceptional 
day  in  our  national  calendar,  we  may  begin  to  tremble 
at  the  fate  of  our  nation. 

The  events  which  occurred  in  this  town,  and  of  which 
we  have  just  celebrated  the  centennial  anniversary, 
were  not  unlike,  in  spirit  at  least,  the  event  which 
Moses  commanded  the  Jews  to  observe  by  a  memorial 
day.  With  the  Jews,  it  was  their  departure  from  the 
territory  of  a  nation  who  held  them  as  slaves  ;  on  the 
nineteenth  of  April,  1775,  began  that  series  of  events 
which  resulted  in  driving  from  this  land  those  who 
were  endeavoring  to  make  slaves  of  the  colonists.  And 
if  there  were  any  good  reason  why  that  day  should  be 
unto  the  Jews  for  a  memorial,  why  it  should  be  kept  a 
feast  by  an  ordinance  for  ever,  there  is  equally  good 
reason  why  the  uineteentli  of  April  should  be  unto  our 


45 

nation  for  a  memorial,  and  should  be  kept  a  feast  by  an 
ordinance  forever.  If  we.  have  had  doubts  of  this  here- 
tofore, I  think  the  celebration  which  has  occm-red  during 
the  past  week  has  laid  all  such  doubts  at  rest. 

There  may  have  been  some  persons  who  thought  that 
the  significance  of  this  celebration  was  greatly  magni- 
fied in  the  eyes  of  the  citizens  of  Lexington.  But 
looking  back  upon  it  now,  we  know  very  well  that  our 
ideas  of  its  importance  and  significance  did  not  exceed 
similar  ideas  which  were  entertained  in  every  part  of 
this  country.  Very  few  of  us,  I  think,  fully  realized 
what  a  great  manifestation  of  interest  in  the  day  would 
be  exhibited.  From  every  part  of  this  country  we 
have  had  evidence  that  there  was  a  deep  interest  in  the 
observance  of  the  day,  and  that  the  day  was  observed 
not  only  in  this  and  our  neighboring  town,  but  in  many 
other  towns  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  in  many  States 
of  the  Union.  So  large  a  concourse  of  people  as 
assembled  here  last  Monday,  hardl}'  any  one  of  the 
most  sanguine  of  our  citizens  expected  to  see.  And 
when  we  remember  that  half  as  many  more  tried  in  vain 
to  reach  Lexington  on  that  day,  we  must  feel  that  such 
a  manifestation  of  interest  in  any  patriotic  occasion  has 
seldom  been  surpassed.  The  character  and  conduct  of 
the  crowd  was  also  equally  remarkable.  A  very  small 
proportion  of  the  number  who  participated  in  the  cele- 
bration, or  who  endeavored  so  to  do,  was  composed  of 
the  element  termed  rowdy.  Very  few  indeed  seemed 
drawn  hither  merely  to  see  or  form  a  part  of  a  crowd. 
There  were  men  of  every  profession,  business,  and 
occupation,  apparently  drawn  hither  from  real  interest 
in  the  event  which  was  commemorated.     Rev.  Dr.  Bel- 


46 

lows,  who  was  unable  to  get  any  farthei*  on  his  way  to 
Lexington  than  Boston,  and  who  returned  to  New  York, 
as  he  says,  "  baflled  and  sorely  disappointed  in  the  object 
of  his  patriotic  journey,"  also  says  that  he  was  "partly 
repaid  by  the  immense  exhibition  of  interest  and  zeal 
in  the  occasion  which  the  crowd  displayed."  And  I 
think  this  must  be  especially  gratifying  to  every  one 
who  either  saw  or  heard  of  it.  Last  Monday  was  the 
beginning  of  a  scries  of  centennial  anniversaries  which 
are  to  be  observed  during  the  coming  period  of  eight 
years.  An'd  the  great  interest  displayed  in  this  first 
anniversary  of  the  series  shows  with  what  deep  interest 
and  reverence  the  American  people  regard  the  struggle 
which  our  forefathers  endured,  in  order  to  establish  this 
nation  upon  the  solid  foundation  of  political  and  reli- 
gious liberty.  In  February,  1775,  both  houses  of  the 
English  Parliament  joined  in  an  address  to  the  king, 
declaring  that  a  rebellion  existed  in  Massachusetts,  and 
pledging  their  lives  and  properties  to  its  suppression. 
During  the  discussion  which  took  place  upon  that 
address,  John  Wilkes  said  :  "  Who  can  tell  whether,  in 
consequence  of  this  day's  violent  and  mad  address,  the 
scabbard  may  not  be  thrown  away  by  the  Americans  as 
well  as  by  us ;  and,  should  success  attend  thera,  whether, 
in  a  few  years,  the  Americans  may  not  celebrate  tlie 
glorious  era  of  the  revolution  of  1775,  as  we  do  that  of 
1688  ?  "  Ilis  words  proved  to  be  the  words  of  a  true 
propli(;t;  and  now,  after  a  century  has  passed  awa}^,  the 
American  people  have  entered  upon  the  celebration  of 
that  "glorious  era"  with  renewed  interest  and  zeal, 
giving  evidence  not  only  of  the  lienor  which  is  felt  to 
be  due  to  the  men  of  that  era,  but  also  of  the  value 


47 

which  is  attached  to  what,  by  their   labors,  by  their 
struggles,  and  by  their  sacrifices,  they  obtained. 

But  besides  this  manifestation  of  patriotism  which 
the  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington and  Concord  has  produced,  and  that  which  will 
be  shown  on  the  anniversaries  which  are  to  follow, 
there  is  another  thing  which  it  seems  to  me  every  per- 
son must  feel  will  result  therefrom ;  and  that  is,  the 
strengthening  of  that  bond  of  political  union  among  the 
different  States  which  has,  of  late  years,  suffered  so 
severe  a  strain.  Very  few,  after  our  late  domestic 
struggle,  could  say  of  it  what  Longfellow  said  before  : 

"  'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale !  " 

It  was  a  rent,  and  a  very  serious  one  ;  and  since  the 
rent  has  been  repaired,  it  has  been  the  earnest  wish  of 
every  lover  of  his  country  to  see  all  traces  of  it  removed, 
and  the  old  feeling  of  union  replaced,  as  strong  and  firm 
as  ever.  Can  any  one  doubt  that  the  celebration  of 
these  centennial  anniversaries,  which  have  been  so 
auspiciously  begun,  and  in  which  men  from  every  State 
in  the  Union  will  join,  will  tend  to  strengthen  that  old 
feeling  of  unity  which  has  been  so  seriously  disturbed  ? 
Will  it  be  possible  for  men  from  every  part  of  this 
country  to  meet  together  in  order  to  honor  the  men  who 
one  hundred  years  ago  laid  the  foundation  of  this 
Union,  without  being  more  deeply  impressed  with  the 
value  of  what  our  "forefathers  established  ?  As  pilgrims 
from  the  South  and  pilgrims  from  the  North  meet 
together  in  places  made  sacred  by  the  deliberations  or 
sacrifices  of  our  forefathers,  the  clasping  of  their  hands 


48 

must  bo  a  true  symbol  of  the  renewed  feeling  of  union 
with  which  they  will  return  to  their  homes. 

A  poet  has  told  the  story  of  a  husband  and  wife,  after 
long  years  of  wilful  separation,  meeting  at  the  grave  of 
their  child,  where  memories  of  former  days  of  love  and 
happiness  came  thronging  upon  them,  and  there  they 
pledged  anew  their  mutual  faith  and  trust  in  each  other. 
When  North  and  South  meet  at  such  places  as  Lexing- 
ton, Concord,  Bunker  Hill,  Philadelphia,  Trenton, 
Princetown,  Eutaw,  and  Yorktown,  to  honor  the  dead, 
in  whom  both  North  and  South  have  a  mutual  interest, 
the  thronging  memories  connected  with  these  places 
must  revive,  to  a  great  degree,  the  old  feeling  of  union, 
and  make  them  again  regard  themselves  as  "one  and 
inseparable."  Therefore,  when  I  think  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  last  Monday,  and  ask  myself  what  was  the 
grandest  part  of  those  exercises,  I  pass  by  that  grand 
procession.  1  say,  not  those  eloquent  introductory 
words  of  the  president  of  the  day  ;  not  that  thrilling 
scene  of  the  unveiling  of  the  statues  of  the  patriots, 
Adams  and  Hancock  ;  not  that  eloquent,  beautiful  and 
masterly  oration,  but  the  last  part  of  the  speech  of  the 
Governor  of  South  Carolina.  If  the  celebration  had 
accomplished  nothing  more  than  the  bringing  of  the 
Governor  of  South  Carolina  to  give  utterance  to  those 
words  on  the  soil  of  Lexington,  it  would  have  been  a 
grand  success.  It  was  a  part  of  the  day's  exercises 
which  I  was  unfortunate  enough  not  to  hear,  and  it  has 
been  difficult  for  me  to  road  it  since  without  feeling 
tears  of  joy  starting  in  my  eyes.  The  words  of  which  I 
speak  are  these : 

"  I  know  that  I  am  commissioned  here  to-day  to  say 


49 

for  South  Carolina  that  she  joins  with  equal  gratitude 
and  reverence  with  all  her  sisters  of  the  early  days  in 
honoring  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1775  ;  that  she  claims 
her  share  in  the  glory  of  the  struggle  begun  at  Lexing- 
ton ;  that  as  of  old  she  bade  Massachusetts  cheer  in  the 
struggle,  so  now  she  unites  with  her  in  these  patriotic 
services. 

"  It  is  not  for  me,  it  is  not  for  any  one,  on  this  occa- 
sion, to  speak  of  later  events  in  which  these  two  ancient 
allies  stood  face  to  face  as  enemies.  Who  that  has  an 
American  heart  does  not  rejoice  that,  back  of  all  the 
recent  bitter  struggle,  there  lies  the  gracious  heritage 
of  those  common  labors  and  dangers  and  sacrifices  in 
founding  this  common  government  ?  Who  that  looks 
with  a  just  eye  even  on  that  recent  struggle  does  not 
now  see,  on  either  side,  the  same  high  elements  of 
character,  the  courage,  the  devotion  to  duty,  the  moral 
lineaments  of  the  Adamses  and  Hancocks,  the  Gadsdens 
and  Rutledges  of  a  hundred  years  ago  ?  Who  that  has 
faith  in  the  destinies  of  America  does  not  see  in  this 
early  friendship, — aye,  and  even  in  this  later  conflict, 
the  potency  and  promise  of  that  coming  Union  under 
whose  protection  liberty  shall  forever  walk  hand  in  hand 
with  justice,  wherein  the  North  and  the  South,  reunited 
in  spirit  and  aims,  shall  again  respond  to  every  call  of 
patriotic  duty  in  the  old  tones  of  Samuel  Adams  and 
Christopher  Gadsden,  of  James  Otis  and  John  Rutledge  ? 

"That  spirit  still  lives,  fellow-citizens,  in  South 
Carolina.  If  in  later  days  she  has  erred,  forgive  her  ; 
for  even  then  she  dared  and  sufi'ered  with  a  courage  and 
patience  not  unworthy  in  its  strength  of  the  days  when 
Gadsden  and  Rutledge  illustrated  her  civic  wisdom,  and 


50 

Sumter  and  Marion  her  martial  prowess.  '  Magnanim- 
ity/ says  Mr.  Burke,  'is  not  seldom  the  truest  wisdom; 
and  a  great  empire  and  little  minds  go  ill  together.' 

"Fellow-citizens,  I  offer  you  to-day  the  fraternal, 
patriotic  greetings  of  South  Carolina — of  aZHier  people. 
She  marches  again  to-day  to  the  music  of  that  Union 
which  a  hundred  years  ago  her  wisdom  helped  to  de- 
vise and  her  blood  to  cement.  There,  in  that  hallowed 
Union,  endeared  and  sanctified  by  so  many  blessed 
memories,  and  radiant  with  so  many  proud  hopes  and 
promises,  there,  there  'she  must  live  or  bear  no  life.' 
Oh,  welcome  her  anew  to  day  to  the  old  fellowsliip  ! 
The  monuments  of  marble  and  brass  which  we  raise 
here  to-day  will  crumble.  Let  us,  therefore,  build  in 
the  hearts  of  all  the  people  that  imperishable  monument, 
'an  indestructible  Union  of  indestructible  States.'" 

Let  such  words  find  an  echo  at  every  centennial  cele- 
bration which  is  to  follow  during  the  next  eight  j'cars, 
and  tliese  celebrations  will  cfiect  almost  as  much  of 
good  as  did  the  war  which  they  are  intended  to  com- 
memorate. Let  the  spirit  of  those  words  prevail  at 
these  centennials,  and  it  seems  impossible  that  it  should 
not;  and  then,  when  in  1883  we  celebrate  the  centen- 
nial anniversary  of  the  signing  of  a  treaty  of  peace 
between  Great  Britian  and  the  Uftited  States,  we  shall 
also  celebrate  the  re-union,  both  in  word  and  spirit,  of 
the  nation.  Then  will  every  State  again  join  in  the 
words  of  the  poet : 

"Tliou,  too,  .sail  on,  Oh  Ship  of  State! 
Sail  on,  Oh  Union,  strono;  and  gi'eat! 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  arc  all  witli  thee. 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Arc  all  with  thee, — are  all  with  thee!" 


51 

I  have  mentioned  these  two  things  first, — this  manifes- 
tation of  the  patriotic  spirit,  and  the  probable  strength- 
ening of  the  feeling  of  union,  as  results  of  this  and  the 
following  centennial  celebrations, —  because  they  are  of 
the  greatest  importance,  being  national  in  their  charac- 
ter. But  there  is  something  which  the  recent  surprising 
manifestation  of  interest  in  our  centennial  anniversary 
should  teach  us  as  citizens  of  this  town.  It  is  this :  that 
the  citizens  of  this  historic  town  have  a  duty  to  perform 
on  account  of  the  interest  which  centres  here.  The 
whole  country,  as  we  have  seen,  feels  an  interest  in  the 
associations  and  memories  which  cluster  around  this 
place.  Those  who  live  in  the  town  are  the  guardians 
of  that  interest.  The  man  who  stays  in  this  town,  and 
takes  no  interest  in  the  associations  and  memories  of  the 
place,  is  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  citizen  of  Lexington. 
He  is  no  citizen  of  the  town.  As  guardians  of  the 
national  interest  in  Lexington,  it  is  our  duty  to  preserve 
and  increase  that  interest,  not  for  the  honor  of  the 
town,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation.  The  deeper 
and  wider  the  interest  in  the  associations  and  memories 
of  this  place,  the  deeper  and  wider  is  the  spirit  of  pa- 
triotism. The  way  to  perform  the  duty  which  we  owe 
to  the  country,  as  citizens  of  Lexington,  is  not  to  heed 
the  advice  which  some  editor,  during  the  past  week, 
has  been  obliging  enough  to  give  to  both  Lexington 
and  Concord;  that  is,  "  turn  over  and  take  another  nap 
of  a  hundred  years."  We  ought  to  do  just  the  opposite 
to  that;  we  ought  to  keep  awake  to  the  national  inter- 
est in,  and  historic  character  of,  the  town.  One  way  to 
do  this,  is  never  to  let  the  nineteenth  of  April  pass 
without  some  observance  of  the  day.     We  who  have 


52 

witnessed  this  celebration  will  never  witness  another 
like  it.  But  the  exceptional  character  of  this  celebra- 
tion should  not  prevent  our  taking-  some  notice  of  the 
day  every  year.  Let  there  be,  at  least,  the  national 
banner  displayed  on  every  house,  and  such  other  simple 
observance  as  will  be  inexpensive,  and  at  the  same  time 
aflfording  pleasure.  Such  a  yearly  celebration  will  not 
only  strengthen  the  spirit  of  patriotism  in  this  town, 
but  all  over  the  land.  The  news  of  such  an  observance 
would  go  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  and 
children  would  ask  what  is  meant  by  it,  and  thus  learn 
the  story,  and  take  in  the  spirit  of  the  day. 

Another  way  to  perform  our  duty  is  to  preserve  the 
historic  character  of  the  town  in  its  outward  appear- 
ance. The  names  of  the  streets  should  be  historic. 
They  should  be  such  that  a  stranger  losing  his  way  and 
coming  into  this  village  would  know  from  the  names 
on  the  sign-boards  that  he  must  be  in  Lexington,  and 
could  not  possibly  be  any  where  else.  And  we  may 
keep  the  historic  character  of  the  town,  outwardly,  by 
preserving  the  old  historic  houses.  If  it  be  necessary, 
let  there  be  an  association  formed  for  this  purpose. 
People  are  always  interested  in  old  houses.  Some  one 
told  me,  last  Monday,  that  the  most  eloquent  motto  was 
on  the  house  just  below  here  :  "  A  witness  of  the  battle 
one  hundred  years  ago."  One  of  the  great  objects  of 
interest  to  visitors  will  always  be  the  old  houses  which 
stood  here  witnesses  of  the  battle.  Let  us  see  that  they 
are  preserved,  so  that  they  may  speak  to  every  stranger 
visitor,  eloquently,  although  silently,  of  the  spirit  of 
the  men  of  1715. 

Another  way  to  do  our  duty  in  this  historic  town  is 


53 

to  preserve  all  the  relics  which  illustrate  in  any  way  its 
history.  Such  things  are  also  eloquent  and  interesting 
teachers  of  the  past.  One  newspaper  correspondent 
who  was  in  Lexington  last  Monday  says,  "I  for  one 
enjoy  seeing  an  old  foot-stove,  with  which  a  venerable 
dame,  a  hundred  years  ago,  mitigated  the  severity  of 
a  winter  atmosphere  in  the  meeting-house,  or  the  blanket 
in  which  Sam  Adams  was  christened,  more  than  the 
military  display,  or  the  President  and  his  Cabinet." 
Such  relics  are  of  interest  to  most  people,  and  they 
are  a  real  source  of  patriotic  inspiration.  Let  that 
part  of  the  collection  in  our  library  which  has  been 
given  to  the  town,  be  increased  till  it  shall  come  to  be 
such  a  collection  as  every  lover  of  antiquities  will  never 
visit  Boston  without  coming  to  Lexington  to  see.  In 
such  ways  as  these,  and  in  others  which  may  suggest 
themselves,  let  us  prove  to  the  country  that  we  are  not 
asleep,  but  awake  to  the  historic  and  patriotic  interest 
in  our  town. 

Of  the  seven  men  of  Lexington  who  were  killed  on 
the  green,  on  the  morning  of  the  nineteenth  of  April, 
1765,  Bancroft  says  :  "  Their  names  are  held  in  grate- 
ful remembrance,  and  the  expanding  millions  of  their 
countrymen  renew  and  multiply  their  praise  from  gen- 
eration, to  generation,''  and  his  words  during  the  past 
week  have  been  proved  true.  Let  us  remember  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  citizens  of  this  town  to  do  what  they 
can  to  keep  alive  the  memories  of  those  men,  not  for 
the  honor  of  Lexington,  not  solely  for  their  honor,  but 
for  the  good  of  our  nation,  to  establish  which  on  the 
firm  foundation  of  liberty  they  sacrificed  their  lives. 


1  TRRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

Mi 

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